Monton Urban+ Meteor SS jersey

Monton's Urban+ Meteor short sleeve jersey is a good option for the warm weather, offering a decent level of wicking and coming in a close-to-body fit so there's no flapping.

• Pros: Slim cut, comfortable, pretty good ventilation
• Cons: Reflective tab is on the wrong side for UK!

The Meteor is mainly made from polyester/elastane that has a grid structure with thousands of tiny square indentations where the fabric is less thick than the areas that surround them, giving a textured finish. Much lighter-weight mesh is used for the panels on the underside of the sleeves and the tops of the side sections.

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The sleeves and collar are a different fabric again, this time striped Lycra with almost see-through lines running lengthways. This style is all over the place at the moment.

The combined effect is that this jersey keeps you feeling fairly cool on a hot ride. There are certainly jerseys with more ventilation out there – such as Le Col's Pro Air Jersey that we reviewed recently – but this one lets a reasonable amount of air in while wicking sweat away pretty well and drying quickly. It's not exceptional in that respect, but it's good.

The Meteor is made to Monton's Pro cut which is slim throughout, including the sleeves. Even the skinniest cyclist isn't going to experience any bagginess here while chunkier folk will also get a good fit too thanks to loads of stretch all round.

A gripper band holds the end of each sleeve in place comfortably, a zillion little silicone dots on the inside stopping it from slipping on sweaty skin. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pics but the writing on the left arm gripper says 'To be unique', which raises more questions than it answers, if you ask me.

The bottom hem is elasticated for a close fit and there's more silicone down here, this time in the shape of a repeated Monton name and logo. Again, it works well to keep everything where it should be.

The front zip is from YKK and comes with a large, easy-to-grab puller and a tape behind it at the top end for a little extra comfort. If you want to open the zip a little to let some more air in, it'll stay obediently wherever it's positioned rather than gradually working its way open.

You get just three pockets in the lower back, old school style – there's no extra zipped pocket for your valuables here. The tops of those pockets are elasticated to help keep everything safely stowed. The fact that the fabrics used throughout are super-stretchy made me wonder whether the pockets would sag when fully laden, but the jersey's slim fit stops that from happening, drawing everything in close.

You get a reflective tab at the back for extra safety too, although it's positioned on the left-hand side of the left-hand pocket, which isn't the best place for those countries where we ride on the left, facing more towards the verge than towards the traffic. Still, it's better than nothing.

> Buyer's Guide: 20 of the best summer cycling jerseys

The Meteor has an RRP of £110 but it is currently reduced to £75 on Monton's website. I'd say that £110 would be expensive for what you get here – it's more than quite a few of the well-rated jerseys we've reviewed recently – but that £75 is pretty good.

Overall, this jersey has a lot to recommend it. The cut is slim and comfortable, the fabrics are good and so is the price, as long as you get it at the reduced level.

Verdict

Slim-fitting jersey offering a decent level of ventilation and wicking